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Adventist HealthCare

Adventist HealthCare traces its roots to the turn of the 20th century when Ellen White, co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, contributed proceeds from the sale of her book The Ministry of Healing to help build the Washington Sanitarium. Its first entity, Washington Sanitarium opened in February 1904 and was temporarily headquartered in Washington, D.C., until a permanent facility in Takoma Park, Md., was opened in June 1907.

In its early years, the Sanitarium improved the physical, mental, and spiritual health of its visitors through rest, exercise, and a wholesome diet. After World War I it began providing surgical, obstetric, and emergency care. In 1971, the hospital performed its first open heart surgery. Two years later, it was renamed Washington Adventist Hospital.

Months later, a second facility, Hackettstown Community Hospital (now called Hackettstown Regional Medical Center) opened in northwestern New Jersey. In 1979, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital opened its doors in Rockville, Md.

Today, Adventist HealthCare, one of the largest employers in the state of Maryland, employs more than 7,000 people and cares for more than 250,000 patients annually. This nonprofit network includes three acute care hospitals, a rehabilitation hospital, one psychiatric hospital, numerous nursing centers, and several home health agencies.

As I have the opportunity to talk with members of our Adventist HealthCare team, people will often tell me stories. Some of the stories are funny; some are quite serious. And some of them are so filled with joy that they make everything we do feel important and significant.

Adventist HealthCare’s two main hospitals have each received two awards from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association for life-saving, high-quality stroke care. These awards come during National Stroke Month, which raises awareness about the signs and symptoms of stroke.

April 4 was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the American civil rights leader, pastor, and visionary who was fatally shot while standing on the second floor balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

The elevator doors were already starting to close when I entered the lobby of an office building. I could see the face of a young man making a courier delivery through the closing doors, and when he glanced up and saw my face he distinctively stuck his foot out and stopped the doors from closing.

This week church leaders, local pastors and institutional leaders from across the Seventh-day Adventist church in North America gathered to discuss ways to collaborate to reach, retain and reclaim the people of North America with Jesus’ message and mission. Watch the videos!